Taste thresholds increase with age but the increase is relatively small. Taste quality identification appears to be relatively normal in the elderly. Thus there is little indication of sensory abnormality and yet many elderly individuals complain that foods taste weak. A previously unevaluated abnormality in the taste systems of the aged could account for this. As a function of stimulus intensity, preceived taste intensity may grow abnormally slow in the aged so that foods which contain relatively strong concentrations of taste substances would taste weak compared to sensations remembered from earlier years. We propose to test this hypothesized taste abnormality in the elderly by having elderly subjects and young (college aged) control subjects scale the perceived intensities of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, and quinine hydrochloride. We also propose to reevaluate taste thresholds in the elderly with improved procedures.